Do Bankruptcy Lawyers Inflate Their Bills?

DLA Piper is the world's largest law firm. They've been sued by an energy executive over a price dispute. As part of that lawsuit, emails have come out that suggest the firm drastically inflated their billing while they were preparing a bankruptcy filing for one of the executive's companies.

The process is known as churning: firms make up (or churn out) unnecessary work so they can bill their clients for more hours. It's extremely unethical because it's like stealing from a client. So very few firms leave paper trails proving they purposefully churn out more hours.

The suit brings up a big question if you're considering filing for bankruptcy:

This particular case is probably different from yours. The company in bankruptcy was a huge organization hiring the world's biggest law firm. In general, bankruptcy attorneys for individuals and families don't charge by the hour like DLA Piper does.

But sadly, some bankruptcy lawyers will try to take advantage of your situation. They will sometimes quote you a low price and then add to it by surprise later. Or they'll take your bankruptcy case - and your money - but not always give you the help you need later on, when your case is filed but has problems.

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